Enlarge picture i Jim Barrett, proprietor of Chateau Montelena in Napa Valley, holds a bottle of the 1973 chardonnay that won the 1976 Paris Tasting, in 1996. Barrett died Thursday at 86.
Jim Barrett, owner of Chateau Montelena in Napa Valley, holds a bottle of the 1973 chardonnay that won the 1976 Paris Tasting, in 1996. Barrett died Thursday at 86.
If you have ever had a glass of California chardonnay that was not from a box, you can give a toast of thanks to Jim Barrett. The 86- year - previous vintner passed away last week, soon after an fascinating and varied lifestyle that left a lasting legacy in American wine manufacturing.
"The man went from being an attorney to currently being on a submarine in the Korean War to owning one of the best American wineries," says Scott Wilson, one particular of the three Wine Guys, a podcasting trio of wine experts. "I suggest it's a fairly wonderful existence."
When Barrett showed up in Napa Valley in the 1970s, he says, the spot was hardly the lush green countryside we see today.
Linked NPR Stories
The Salt
Wine Revolution: As Drinkers And Growers, U.S. Declares Independence
"It surely was a various world than it is now," Wilson tells NPR's Don Gonyea. "I indicate you drive down Napa [now] and it really is winery following winery. It was really true farm country and the Chateau Montelena had been in disarray for decades."
Barrett bought the chateau and set about transforming it. He had a whole lot of function ahead of him not just to revitalize Chateau Montelena, but to defy the stereotype of domestic wines as mass- created swill, says Wine Guy Stevo Anthony.
"In the '60s, there was a true negative connotation for wines in common," Anthony says. "We did not assume of wines from Napa or Sonoma as possessing any cache whatsoever."
Serious wine dealers completely ignored American items, but Barrett modified all that when his Chateau Montelena chardonnay put America on the wine map in a dramatic way.
In 1976, a British wine merchant organized a blind taste test pitting some of the up-and-coming American wines against some of the most significant names in French wines, in what became acknowledged as the Judgment of Paris.
"He believed it would be humorous in our bicentennial 12 months... to in essence put egg on our face," Anthony says. "And lo and behold we shocked the world."
Barrett's American wine took 1st spot amongst the white wines, and it was a huge controversy.
" One particular of the judges grabbed her ballot and wished to tear it up," Wilson says.
"I indicate it was a situation exactly where not only did the little guy beat up the bully, but ended up dating his sister as nicely," Anthony says. "It was amazing."
The story of this massive upset was advised in the movie Bottle Shock, starring Bill Pullman as Barrett and Alan Rickman as British wine merchant Steven Spurrier.
Dallas Best Restaurants, Dallas Food, Dallas Dining, Dallas Chefs ... SideDish is a food blog about Dallas food, Dallas best restaurants and the Dallas dining scene everything from good meals, restaurant news and Dallas chefs ... Elburn Herald SG candidates speak. SUGAR GROVESugar Grove residents on Tuesday evening got a look at many of the village candidates who will appear on the April 9 General ... News on Food, Wine, Restaurants and Recipes - Diner's Journal Blog ... Diners Journal embraces news and opinion about recipes, wine, restaurants and other matters culinary. Previous Question Index: Topics Starting with A previous expert question answer list, Topics Starting with A Fifty Shades Darker Read Online Chapter 3 Fifty Shades Of Grey ... 50 Shades Of Grey Read Online Free, Fifty Shades Of Grey PDF Download Bottle Shock (2008) - IMDb In 1976, Steven Spurrier, a sommelier in Paris, comes to the Napa Valley to take the best he can find to Paris for a blind taste test against French wine. He meets ... Wine Spectator Home Wine Spectator A major American wine and lifestyle print magazine. Columns, wine reviews and bulletin boards. Napa Valley Register Daily newspaper web site serving Napa Valley with news, sports, entertainment, weather and classified ads.
No comments:
Post a Comment